Education

The biggest challenges facing our schools in Penrith and The Border are those of distance and sparsity. We have the country’s smallest secondary school and its smallest sixth form college. The threat of closure is ever present for many of Cumbria’s smallest and most rural primary and secondary schools. We must do all we can to protect our schools: they form the life and heart of every village.

My colleagues and I have lobbied the Education Minister strongly to ensure the National School Funding formula recognises the unique needs of our rural schools, and provides them with additional financial support. I have worked closely with head-teachers and Cumbria County Council to establish a fair allocation of resources in Cumbria, favouring our smaller schools.

The formula is complex, as the tangible impact on each school can vary so significantly. I would urge any rural school concerned about their budget plans to get in touch and to work with me to ensure rural communities remain a place for young families, with a local school at their heart.

Rory has, following a meeting on Monday specially convened by the Eden Area Secondary Headteachers (EASH) group, said that he is delighted to have been instrumental in brokering greater dialogue between the schools and Cumbria County Council in relation to the schools’ ongoing concerns about the National Schools Funding Formula. The meeting involved head-teachers and […]

Rory on Saturday attended the launch event at Penrith’s Go Outdoors centre for a new adventure learning organisation which will help young people complete their Duke of Edinburgh awards. ACActive, in conjunction with Cumbria Youth Alliance, has set up an open award centre which aims to ensure that any young person who would like the opportunity […]

Rory visited the national ‘Lab in a Lorry’ science education initiative at William Howard School in Brampton on Friday, meeting with pupils and seeing how the mobile science laboratory takes hands-on physics experiments to schools. The aim is to give students aged 11 to 14 the opportunity to experience science as it is really done […]

Rory was invited to Ullswater Community College in Penrith on Friday, where he gave a slide show on his Asian travels, and took questions from 150 students from both Ullswater and neighbouring Queen Elizabeth Grammar School. Rory introduced the history, the culture, and the religion of the Central Asian region. He showed slides on family […]

Rory this week presented the prize for his annual Christmas card competition to five year old Erin McCanny from Plumpton Primary School. Her card was chosen from dozens of entries from primary schools across the constituency, Rory awarded first place Erin’s ‘three-robins’ design will form the cover of Rory Stewart’s official Christmas card which will […]

Hunter Hall Primary School this week officially opened their new library, and Rory had the honour of being invited to cut the ribbon. Hunter Hall is one of the very few remaining independent primary schools in Cumbria. On the day, the headmaster Dr Tony Winzor explained that the vision of a school library was over […]

Rory was delighted to accept an invitation from the pupils of Penruddock Primary School to visit them on Friday and celebrate ‘Parliament Week’ in their school. Running this year from 19 – 25 November, Parliament Week is a national initiative coordinated by the House of Commons and the House of Lords with the aim of […]

On Monday 22nd October 2012, the committee of Cumbrian MPs met with Education Minister David Laws, who has confirmed that funding for rural schools would be protected in the education reforms. The meeting followed weeks of debate about how to allocate funding between rural and urban schools, with many urban schools claiming they were under-funded, […]

Rory has joined UK manufacturers to encourage kids to get excited about manufacturing careers. Proud to have launched the We Made It! competition in Penrith and the Border, working closely with local schools and industries to help young people understand how exciting and rewarding a career in manufacturing can be, he has written to all his […]

Rory spent the morning of Saturday 5th May at Kirkby Stephen Grammar School, where he spent time with staff and students, and even played a round of badminton, before presenting the school with its cheque for £120,000 of Olympic legacy funding that has been obtained from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund. The Inspired Facilities fund […]